Snug

Yesterday was beautiful, and I certainly did not stay home to keep warm. After all, it'll be 20 degrees colder than that in a couple of months! No, I put on my down-filled coat and super-Sorel boots, and I -- along with a bunch of other local knitters -- went yarn shopping. Ariadne Knits opened its doors yesterday! I was excited to see the new shop, and to buy yarn for Kate's Bird in Hand Mittens and Adrian's Norwegian Snail Mittens, but I was also very excited to pick up a yarn order I'd place on Ariadne's website earlier last week.

I'd gone out for a walk on Tuesday evening, you see, and while walking and listening to the latest S&B podcast, my ears had nearly frozen and dropped off my head. My fault; I was still in winter-denial and hadn't worn a hat. Last year, it didn't even snow until Boxing Day, but this year promises to be a whole other kettle of fish, and I'm determined to keep warm throughout. Anyway, when I got home from my walk (during which I'd been listening to Nicole and Jenny talk about cozy knit hats and scarves while my ears froze, which was cruelly and unusually apt), I went straight to my Beehive booklets. "What I need," I thought to myself, "is some winter headwear."


I was looking for a balance of style and practicality. Some patterns certainly look practical, but, well, let's say they'd be challenging to pull off. Consider, for example, the ribbed helmet on the right:


I'm sure it's very toasty, and you could even eat with it on! But since I wouldn't actually want to wear it in public, I kept looking. (Or maybe it's just the models' disembodied heads that are a turn-off?)


OK, getting closer, but I don't think the Eyelet Hood would cut it in the wind. Plus, as Bill pointed out, it looks like chain mail. For the knitter on her way to a winter Renaissance faire -- perfect! Not for me, though.


Yes! This is it. This is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll understand if the appeal isn't immediately obvious to you, and maybe the coldness of my ears affected my judgment, but I settled on the Head Snugs, and I ordered the yarn. I'm going to be knitting a snug (plus, it's called a snug -- how cute is that?) in Warani, a suri alpaca/extra-fine merino blend: chocolate for the main colour, and turquoise for the contrasting Fair Isle. As soon as I finish Bill's Manly Mitts (I'm halfway through the first one), I'm casting on for my snug.

Because of the sudden wintry-ness outside, I've revisited my knitting queue, moving lots of cold-weather accessories to the top. After Bill's mitts and my snug, I'm going to be all about stranded mittens. Stranded mittens are the new socks. And Head Snugs are the new toques. You heard it here first.